HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS —Mike Brown out. Mike D’Antoni in. Phil Jackson still on the sidelines. And (Jim and) the Buss family in the crosshairs until further notice. Those are the main plotlines for this week’s episode of “As The Los Angeles Lakers Turn.”

We’ve gathered our own panel of experts, insiders and observers of the situation to try to help you make sense of it all on Episode 92 of The Hang Time Podcast, featuring super agent Warren LeGarie (who represents both Brown and D’Antoni) and Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times (who had an afro when the first Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant/Phil Jackson era began, and currently sports a skin-tight dome these days after 17 years of drama).

We broke down the situation from every angle and ended up in the same place as everyone else — totally confused at how this all went down and convinced, as our resident Lakers expert put it, that this season is “Championship or Buss” for these Lakers.

Check out all that and more on Episode 92 of the Hang Time Podcast, with your hosts Sekou Smith, Lang Whitaker and Rick Fox.

For the last few weeks everytime I want to download an episode of the nba hangtime podcast i get the one with Roy Hibbert and that comedian (I’m European, so I’m not so familiar with your comedians). Anyone having the same problem? I’m downloading the episodes not with iTunes but another podcatcher. But even the direct link from this page always brings me to the same episode.

hey seiko..i know deep inside your a laker fan so just shut up and hope for the best.you cant do anything to make them change their decision now.your makin life writing negative about the franchise.be thankful.to be honest, im not hoping that you will post this comment.

Lakers haven’t had a true point guard since Magic. Maybe they don’t even need one. But I agree with the comment about a group of All-Stars not necessarily making a good team. Especially if they’re “older.” (Think: Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Horace Grant…)

I have been a laker fan since i have concience of basketball, i would prefered obviously Phil Jackson he is obviously a better coach than D’Antoni, but that does not mean D’ Antoni is a bad coach. Phil jackson is the best of the best coaches and he is retired, so that is that. Team chemistry takes time to appear and thats what this beastly Lakers team need, time to start bbuilding up somechemistry between starters-starters, starters-bench, coach-players, etc… Lakers will obviously be in west semifinals and me and all lakers fan hope they go all the way, and they have coach and team to do it

Lakers need to go into a rebuilding mode. Sure, they got Kobe, Steve and Dwight but they do’t have the time the heat did to make star players into a star team. Kobe and Steve are old and don’t expect Dwight to be there next year. In Orlando, Dwight was the STAR. In the Spurs game, Dwight was just another player. Laker fans, blame the coach, the Clippers, the owners but the glory days are over for a few years.

I thought they played fantastic agianst the # 1 6-1 Spurs and “ALMOST” beat them!!!! They need some repair an dfixing but I think once they put it together they’ll be just fine.

Keeping in mind Phil Jackson didn’t leave the best impression when 2010 season loss (0-4) to Mavs ended play-offs! I don’t understand when everyone going crazy over Phil!!! If Lakers are old and done, nothing Phil can do. If they can still play, well I think any good coacjh will do.

I never liked the Mike Brown choice since DAY 1!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jackson (talented as he was) always had SUPER STARS to win championships with. MJ, Pipen, KB Shaq!!!!

If you look at the bench that the Clippers have after beating Miami last night, their team is ready for a huge run this year. I am a Laker fan since the early 80’s. I am very well-versed on this team and their rich history of championships and contenders. I am a die-hard fan, but I can honestly tell you, they are not there yet. They are going to have to make some more changes before this season is over. Compare the Clippers bench to theirs, huge difference. Look at the first 5 players off the bench for the Clippers and they could potentially start on another team in the NBA. Huge disparity between Lakers bench and anyone else’s bench.

If the season progresses and Lakers don’t flourish under D’antoni, I’m thinking they’re gonna have to trade Pau for some young sharpshooters to complement the system. It would be sad to see Gasol leave, but I just don’t see LA maximizing his talents in this system.

The hiring of Mike Brown was simply the beginning of the collapse of a once proud franchise into the sorry excuse of a professional basketball team, if you dare call it that, which now lies wounded in front of our very eyes. In fact, I would be astonished if they were capable of defeating anything that resembled a premiere Division1 College basketball team. Besides Phil Jackson’s departure, not only were the Lakers an aging and horrendously unathletic team but they were also extremely inadequate at the point guard position. Having taken into consideration that their Lord and Savior(KB24) is far removed from his days of splendor and an absence of consistent perimeter shooting, all this made for the recipe for a shockingly disappointing season.

D`Antoni is not a bad choice, for next season, wit training camp already over, ant the Lakers currently having two centers and a power forward starting, when D`an is used to all guards, much trading/rebuilding may be coming. Sloan would have been the better old hand for this season. Cooper or Sahw would have been better for next season. But I wish the prime current exponent of Wooden`s small ball, fancy d`an, well, and wish Brown well, too.

The main problem with the Los Angeles Lakers is for a defensive minded coach in Mike Brown, they never really were in the top of the league defensively, That is the main reason why he is not there. But, he should have never been hired in the first place. It is tough to follow a legend, but now it appears to be tough to coach in LA period. Mike D’Antoni has a lot pf pieces around him, but they cannot simply be a full-court offense when a guy like Dwight Howard dominates down low; more of a half-court offense should be used but that does not mean that it will. Overall though, I do not think the Lakers will win this year because they are extremely overhyped, Dwight could leave in free agency next year, and there’s just too much uncertainty and not enough clarity. Mike D’Antoni will make the playoffs, not the finals nor the conference finals, and will be gone by the end of the year

The coach is not the problem, the problem is that players disagree with the coach or they dont have desire to work with him, how can the newyork knicks play so poorly with mike d’antoni, even after he left, the begun to play very well.. Its same with lakers, now after mike brown left, they started to play much better

I have not seen the Lakers play that badly for a very long time. Last year there was an excuse because of the short preseason, the coach change and the condensed schedule. I thought that Mike Brown did a very poor job last year although many experts suggested otherwise. Nevertheless last year is in the past. I believed that this year things would be better, based on the trades. Unfortunatelly thus far I haven’t seen any improvement. During the 1 month preseason Mike Brown continued to experiment without any logic. The Prinston offence was a disaster. The players seemed to be bumping to each other when they tried to play this type of offence. They had 20 TOs per game. Lakers have traded Steve Nash, the best player in the high screen and roll in the business and the ball didn’t go to his hands. The same thing continued in the first 5 games of the regular season, thus the decision of firing Mike Brown was justified. The question now is if Mike d’Antoni is the best coach to fit these Lakers. The Lakers have the talent and the experience to go all the way provided that the bench players help a little more. Mike is an expert in the offensive part of the game but lacks in the defensive part. If he uses Howard as option No 1 in the offence and focuses the game around him I believe he will fail. If he uses Howard as a defensive stopper (20RPG – 5BPG) and plays the high pick and roll along with the talent of Kobe and Co he will succeed.

Jim Buss is running the show now and he does not understand patience and championship team building. D’Antoni won’t get LAL any farther than PJAX in 2011 or Brown in 2012 (neither have any rings). PJAX would do better over the next three to five years (he wins 11 rings for every two he loses. NUFF SED!

All the star palyers getting together doesn’t really make a good team. Their peak performances have been left behind them. To blame a coach is easy but to win the championship is hard. Next year who they going to fire? Coach or Players?

My opinion is that Lakers’ Time is over. All the star palyers getting together doesn’t really make a good team. Their peak performances have been left behind them. Especially, they can not change coach every year because there are few of them available now. To blame a coach is easy but to win the championship is hard.
Next year who they going to fire? Coach or Players?